Five in a row for the girls

Last night we returned to Oak Lawn to play Southside Baptist, the girls for the second time this season, the boys for the first time. The first time the girls' teams met, the game was pretty even until the fourth quarter, when the Patriots erupted for twelve in the last eight minutes while holding the Torchpersons (I love being politically correct) to a single free throw to win by eight. For those who weren't at either game, the Southside gym is tiny; not quite as tiny as Brentwood's but pretty small. My estimate is that the court is about 75'x38' compared to the high school standard of 84'x50', so the court has about 2/3rds the square footage it's supposed to have. So the game is a bit different than usual. There's usually a lot of turnovers because the passing lanes are so clogged, and it's easier to play a zone defense. That's how it was the first time, and that's how it was last night. But the game was not as close, as Southside was missing their tall center, and the Patriots handled them easily, 36-23.

HSRC gave an indication that they were going to dominate early on, as they were making their shots when they had them. They turned the ball over a lot, but so did Southside. Alyssa, Kara and Rachel each made outside shots to give our girls a 6-0 lead. That didn't last long as Southside scored the next six to tie it up. Kara picked up her second basket, but that was matched by Southside before the quarter end, so it was 8-8 after one. Rachel opened the second with a layup, which was followed by a score by Becca on a feed from Rachel. The new play put in by Coach Boss was getting the girls some open looks from the elbow. On the other end of the court, the girls were playing a tough 1-1-3 defense, which they started out in, but they need to run it a bit before they got comfortable with it. Since Southside tried to work the ball down low most times, this was a very effective defense. Becca then made one on a pass from Alyssa, Southside scored their only basket of the quarter, then HSRC completed a nice press break with a pass to an open Becca who made the shot to put HSRC up 16-10 and to finish the scoring for the half.

The Patriots opened the second half scoring on a steal and fast break score by Alyssa. After Southside scored on a nice pass underneath, HSRC scored the next six on baskets from Rachel, Kara on a drive to the basket and then Rachel again, this time on a put back after her own miss. Southside got another basket before Rachel powered one in. Then on a layup off of a turnover, Southside scored the last basket of the quarter, but the Patriots still led by 10 going in to the fourth, 26-16. HSRC opened the fourth on fire. They hit on five of their first six shots in the quarter. Alyssa opened the scoring on a jumper off of a fast break. Rachel followed with strong down-low work. Kara scored a layup off of a fast break triggered by a Lee steal. Southside broke the string with a bucket, but then Kara finished the Patriots scoring with two more baskets. By that time the lead was eighteen, and the benches were cleared. Southside ended up scoring the last five points to make it a thirteen-point game.

Leading scorers were Kara and Rachel with twelve each; they shot 12 for 23 between them. Becca and Alyssa scored six each. Rachel had game honors in rebounding with twelve. Kara had four assists; Alyssa and Rachel had three apiece. Becca led with seven steals (the Patriots had thirty steals as a team) and Rachel had three blocks.

The guys didn't play Southside earlier; this was their first game against them. The only common opponents we had with them were Crossroads (SS beat them) and Romeoville (SS lost), so we weren't sure how we would match up. It didn't take long to find out 1) they were better than us and 2) their play is tailored to their gym.  They covered that little gym well with their defense, rebounded very well and released a player (#35) down every time we shot the ball. We were slow in getting back and they had a lot of uncontested layups. They also pressed, since the gym was so small it wasn't as taxing as it would have been on a regulation court, so they could keep it up throughout the game even though they didn't sub much. We racked up a lot of turnovers early, and before you knew it, it was 18-2. At that point, Justin started getting it going underneath, and he finished the quarter with six. HSRC pulled back to within 22-10 by the end of the quarter. Neither team could score to begin the second. The Patriots defense was better, but they couldn't maintain the offensive momentum from the end of the first. About the middle of the quarter, Southside started working it inside to their two big players, #33 and #55, who scored fourteen between them in the quarter. HSRC could never get their offense going in the quarter; however, there was one significant offensive highlight; Peter got his first basket. He took the pass and smoothly put up about fifteen-footer that was nothing-but-net. Unfortunately, the Patriots only got one other basket in the quarter and trailed at halftime 42-14.

Southside began the second as they did the game, by getting it to #35, who hit all four of his shots. We continued to have trouble holding on to the ball, and pretty soon it was a forty point lead for Southside. They then began to clear the bench. Luke L. scored three, Justin made a shot, and Teddy got a free throw, but the lead was still 38 at the end of three. Southside played no starters in the fourth and called off their press. To their credit, our guys didn't let up, and played well in the fourth. The defense was smothering, and the offense was effective. Dustin had seven, Justin had five, Luke D had four, Jimi two and Luke L one to give the Patriots their highest-scoring quarter of the year, 20 points. They shut out Southside's bench so the final was a respectable 58-40.

Dustin led in scoring with fourteen, and added eight rebounds and five assists. Justin had eleven points, eight rebounds and three steals. Luke L, Jimi and Dustin each had two blocks. HSRC actually shot the ball pretty well, 31%, but the turnovers and inability to stop Southside were tough to overcome.

Monday we take on Kankakee Trinity, girls at 6:00 and the boys at 7:15. We play them at 150 N. Indiana Ave, Kankakee, which I believe is some sort of community center. The girls were the closest to getting their second win last year against Trinity, losing by three after leading most of the game, so hopefully the result will be different this year. Hope to see all of you there.